things better left forgotten: the 8-track

Ah, the Eight Track player. No more unweildy albums cluttering up your room! Now, you just needed ten or so shelves to stack your 8 track tapes on. No more skipping and scratching vinyl! No, you just had songs that cut off in the middle to switch tracks, so More Than a Feeling was interupted by a chu-chunk sound right at the good part. No rewinding. No fast forwarding. Just playing the four sections over and over, with all clunky track changes.

The 8 track tapes themselves were prone to melting faster than a marshamallow at a bonfire. Leave one by your sunlit window for just an hour or so, and you would end up with 8 track goo.

They weren't even cool to look at. No liner notes, no lyrics, and the cover art was reduced to a sticky label.

It was hard to be cool while lugging 8-tracks around. Not even the modern-art inspired yellow tape player I had (see above photo) could make it any less cumbersome.

Odd memory: Everyone I know who had an 8-track player owned this. It was like you had to have it, whether you liked the band or not.

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Michele is over there talking about 8-track tapes. It was inevitable. What discussion on nostalgia is complete without the 8-track? This is my one good 8-track tape experience:... [Read More]

Comments

Brought to you by the same man that designed the Lear Jet aircraft.. The original concept was a four track, which would have replicated a vinyl record (side one and side two), but the amount of tape needed was excessive.

Too freakin funny! I clicked the link KNOWING that I wouldn't have had it. You were right, Michele. Had it. Might still have it somewhere. It's probably in the box with my black light posters. Man, they rocked!

Where in the world did you find that photo? I used to have that exact 8 track player in blue. It was awesome....handful of batteries, Rod Stewart's Greatest Hits, the river bank & playing hooky from school....not to mention my '67 powder blue Mustang.

Never had it. I had a Foghat, the one with "I just want to make love to you", Blue by Joni Mitchell, and later, John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic. The latter was memorable because "Stranger to Himself" faded out in the middle for the track change, a time gap lasting about a minute.

I don't even remember 8-tracks. We never had them when I was growing up. Just vinal. It's weird, everyone talks about 8-tracks and the problems with them and all, but i just was never really exposed to them. But from what I hear, Vinal was way better anyway. And that Hooked on a Feeling song is disturbing. At the beginning where they say ooga chaka or whatever it is, it actually sounds almost like they're saying who got sucked off, or something like that. Maybe it's just me though.